Affiliation

Blog Stuff

Chase Race 1- Louden (A MultiMedia Posting)

I will say this about the race at Louden. It was pretty action packed to watch. The racing seemed good early! Bravo.

Tony did well towards the beginning of the race. He qualified 3rd (awesome!) and lead for awhile until a four time pit stop put him a back in the field when Darian called for four tires for the #14 Office Depot car when many teams took two for track position.

Tony didn’t give up though and the car fought its way through the field over the course of the race slowly worked his way back towards the front of the race. He took the lead again at lap 248 of the 300 mile race and started to run away with the lead.

Crew Chief Darian Grubb chose not to pit the #14 Chevy and he dominated the last section of the race until running out of gas at lap 299. Second place Clint Bowyer took the lead and won the first race of the chase.

LOUDON, NH - SEPTEMBER 19: Clint Bowyer, driver of the Cheerios/Hamburger Helper Chevrolet, celebrates winning the race with his crew next to the Office Depot / Old Spice Chevrolet which ran out of gas on the final lap during the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on September 19, 2010 in Loudon, New Hampshire. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)

That right there was the most disheartening thing a Tony Stewart fan could see. Stewart barely coasting over the finish line to maintain his position on the lead lap as Bowyer begins his celebratory burnout.

Stewart finished 24th and is currently 11th (I cringe just typing that) in the points standings.

Notes about Louden

The Epic Fail award this race goes to ESPN/ESPN2 for having the pre-race show in ESPN2 and the race on ESPN. That was a bad move. The pre-race should not require a channel change- that is just dumb. If that is the case I will just watch Race Day on Speed.

Good to see Dale Jr do so well during the race.

Sure it’s easy to say that Stewart should have pitted on that last pit stop. I would have pitted him and let him work his way back through the field (like I would be a crew chief- are you crazy? That job has to be extremely stressful- plus I barely know how to check my oil). I admit I was sitting there hoping the two of them had some sort of magic up their sleeves but alas what am I to do. I said to my mom who was watching the race with me: This will either be a HUGE win or a lose so devastating it will KILL him in the points. Unfortunately the latter was what happened.

Caption Tony picture for your enjoyment (or I guess in this case it’s a caption Tony and/or Darian). I know you are funny people so come on and caption away in the comments:

Speaking of funny people. That Race Day crew over on speed? Hilarious. Why? Well for a lot of reasons- but especially the following video that they used during Race Day. Just a few notes before we get to the embedded video. 1. I love this song. I am not embarrassed to admit it. 2. I remember when the original video came out on MTv (that I might be embarrassed to admit. 3. I can’t decide what is the funniest part- it’s ALL GOOD. Take a look for yourself:

2 Responses

I looked at my wife for a moment as Smoke headed into turn 3 and looked back as he came out of four and ran out of Sunoco. My excitement had been building up since 3 to go. I just knew he had enough and was going to win. I actually got a head ache from the let down. I keep telling myself, “He would have won or at least had a top five if he had only had 1/4 gallon of gas more.”
I know he has the “Big Mo” with him now and can make it back, I just wish they had got one more gallon is that tank on the last stop.